


The Boy With the Crooked Glasses

by LittleLark847



Category: Original Work
Genre: Friendship, Gay, High School, Jealousy, LGBTQ, M/M, Realistic, Romance, Sadness, ace - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27368671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLark847/pseuds/LittleLark847
Summary: Arrow's father was a police officer who arrested Ellian's father. When the two boys meet for the first time, tensions are high. But as time passes, they start to see that they aren't who their fathers are, and an unexpected bond grows between them from friendship to something deeper, until they see that maybe, just maybe there's more than just what the other sees on the surface.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

The sky was a stretch of water as if someone had knocked a pot of ink over it, dying it a cerulean blue. Light dripped down on the gleaming white buildings of Provincetown and there was a lively buzz in the atmosphere with the murmurings, shouts, and laughter of its citizens mixing into a subtle hum in the comforting warmth of summer. Away from the bustling noise of the city lay the sea wearing a perfume of salty air — its gentle rising and falling a perfect reflection of the sky.

A few thin rays of sunlight entered the dark, musty air of the dining room of the Bennett residence and a light breeze glided through the gilded window pane, grazing over Ellian’s skin as he stared aimlessly outside, watching screeching white birds soar in the light of the setting sun. The waves pushed up against the shore, its foam-like bundles of lace, and he longed to walk along the beach, feeling the cool sand underneath his feet. Glancing up from his breakfast — which he had barely touched — he peered into the warm, golden-brown eyes of his mother, which sparkled with laughter. Her auburn hair hung in tangled locks, and a small smile graced her rose-bud lips as she spoke with Ellian’s father, though only a few months older than his mother, bore a grave face, yet his stormy eyes were crinkled with laugh lines, and he had streaks of grey running through his hair.

A loud belch rumbled from his younger brother, Jake, earning him accusing glares. Seated opposite him, Ellian had been too distracted until now to see that half of his soup lay in puddles around his bowl — actually, he didn’t even know why he bothered with one if none of it managed to make its way to his mouth. _If he spent a day with a family of cavemen, he would fit right in_ , Ellian would often comment, much to Jake’s dismay. He scrunched his nose in distaste as he shoveled another spoonful of soup.

“You eat like a pig.”

A choked cough spluttered from her father at the end of the table. Jake’s metal spoon hovered midway over his bowl before it fell with a hollow clang, the soup splashing over the sides. His childish features narrowed, “I do not. I eat like a fine lady.”

Ellian would have snorted if his mother’s unflinching stare wasn’t burning into him. Ignoring his brother’s protests, he continued, “I’d rather you eat like a big boy than a fine lady. Last I checked you weren’t wearing a flowery dress and corset.”

“You once made me wear mom’s yellow dress with the sunflowers for — ” he was cut off by several urgent knocks on the front door, though ‘knock’ was an understatement as it sounded more like someone trying to break their door off its hinges.

His father frowned with visible confusion, all traces of his amusement gone. “That’s odd. We’re not expecting any guests,” he grumbled while getting up, his chair groaning in objection.

“I wonder who it could be?” his mother questioned, bracing her forearms on the table.

Ellian piped up from her place, “A drunken man who couldn’t remember his address?”

“Kira the cat?” Jake giggled.

“Mom, didn’t Kira get run over by a car last month?”

“And you didn’t tell me?!”

The antique cuckoo clock struck 7 as if in answer. The little wooden bird jumped in and out of his nest while the other animals danced around the clock, its machinery whirring in response. Jake stuck out his tongue at it — he’d always disliked it from the moment it was brought back from the stores, perhaps it was its beady eyes that stared vacantly into the distance. 

The table rattled as Ellian’s father suddenly shot up and nervously stared out the window. His face had paled in realisation to the colour of a ghost, “Ellian, Jake,” he started carefully, “both of you listen to me carefully. Hide until I return and never come out under any circumstances unless I tell you to.” His usual assertive tone now held a tremor to it and sweat pooled in his palms. 

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Jake asked while playing with his soup.

He began to move towards the table which they were always instructed to never touch, the table with bags of white powder covering it. Ellian knew what was in the bags, of course, but how was he supposed to tell his seven-year-old brother what was in there? Badly hiding the bags with a thick woolen blanket, he roughly pushed Ellian and Jake into a nearby closet.

“Dad!” Ellian called, unheard by the commotion outside. Glancing at his little brother, Ellian could hear the loud creak of the door opening, followed by heavy footsteps.

“Ellian,” Jake whispered, his grip on his older brother’s hand as tight as it could be, “what’s going on?”

Ellian made no reply, but only hugged Jake closer to his chest.

“Officers, I see no reason for this visit,” Ellian could hear his dad say smartly.

“Where’s the warrant?” Ellian’s mother stated harshly. “You can’t search without a warrant.”

Ellian couldn’t see much through the small crack in the closet door, but he could hear a pause in the speaking, the rustling of paper, and a sigh of acceptance in his mother’s voice.

“What’s under the blanket?” one of the officers demanded.

“Nothing.”

“Then you wouldn't mind if we took a look?” another officer asked. Though his tone was inquisitive, he held an air of authority that Ellian certainly never wanted to cross.

“Wait!” Ellian’s father said in a hurry. There was a long, drawn-out pause. He cleared his throat and continued. “You see, my son, Ellian, is really interested in Chemistry and he was using this highly acidic uh… material. But it smelled so bad that my wife and I had to cover it up.

Ellian grit his teeth in annoyance. How dare his father use his name to get away with his crimes. Besides, anybody who knew Ellian also knew that he hated Chem. However, he didn’t want his dad to get arrested. After all, he _was_ his family’s only source of income.

“I’m sure that the acid is well contained to be on such a fine hardwood table then, yes?” the first officer asked.

“Oh, um, yes, I’m sure,” Ellian’s dad stuttered. “But I’m sure that Ellian wouldn’t be too happy if you messed with his stuff. You see, the acid is highly volatile and —”

“We will be fine,” Officer One said firmly.

Just then, in the worst timing possible, Jake burst out of the closet, dragging Ellian with him, and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Dad! Don’t tell the police about the powder!”

Ellian, exasperated, closed his eyes in sheer frustration. Meanwhile, Officer Two kneeled down so he was eye-to-eye with the young boy. “What powder are you talking about?”

“Well, you see, Officer, I don’t really know,” Jake said truthfully. “But I _do_ know that it's really expensive, and Dad never lets us touch it.”

“Are you Ellian?” Officer Two asked softly.

“No! Why would I ever want to be Ellian? He’s annoying!” Jake whined.

Ellian could swear that Officer One almost cracked a smile. Almost. His scrutinizing gaze focused on Ellian, and the teen could almost feel the older man’s penetrating stare. Yet, his gaze seemed soft, almost. But that “soft” feeling was gone as soon as it arrived. Officer One’s harsh stare moved from Ellian to his father, who had visible beads of sweat trailing down his brow. He walked over to the table and whipped off the blanket, white particles flying. Walking over to Ellian’s father, he pulled the handcuffs off of his belt. “Troy Bennet, you are under arrest for suspicion of drug dealing and possession of illegal substances.”

Before the officers could even handcuff their father, Ellian’s mother ushered them out of the room and into their shared bedroom. “Stay here until the police are gone,” she whispered.

“Why though, Mom?” Ellian asked.

Her only response was a look that seemed to say, _Watch it._ So Ellian didn’t say anything, but held his ground as Jake tugged against him, trying to get to the door. But Ellian held still, too shocked, too shaken to even think of anything.

After what felt like a year later, Ellian’s mother re-entered the room, visible tear streaks on her cheeks. No words were necessary to know what had happened. His father had been arrested. But the words still had to be said, almost to give it a sense of finality.

“He was taken, wasn’t he,” Ellian sniffed tearily.

“Yes,” she cried. “God save us all, yes.”

☀♡☽

Arrow Raddix was quietly eating his dinner, waiting for his dad to come home from his job. As soon as he heard the sound of the door being unlocked, he swiftly and gracefully stood up from his seated position to greet his dad.

“Hey, kiddo,” his father said proudly.

“Dad!” Arrow complained, “I’m not a little kid!”

Despite his son’s protests, Arrow’s dad gave him a hug, which Arrow secretly enjoyed. He enjoyed being around his dad. But he’d never admit it out loud. His dad, though built like a bear, was about as harmless as a butterfly. Unless he was doing his job and things got dangerous. _Then_ he was terrifying.

“You’ll always be my favorite son. You know that, right?”

“And you’re the best dad I’ve ever had. But also the only dad I’ve ever had,” Arrow replied smartly. It was their little inside joke. Arrow, being an only child, used to get offended when his dad would say that to him. That is, until he created his witty response.

As his father sat down at the dining room table, the chair made a loud squeak. Wincing, at the sound, he walked over to their kitchen where a pot of pasta was sitting. Scooping some into one of their ceramic plates, he offered it to his dad.

“Anything interesting happen today?” Arrow asked.

“Well,” his father started, shoveling forkfuls of pasta into his mouth. “I made an arrest today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Some man was selling drugs. Davidson and I found quite a few pounds of the stuff.”

“Damn.”

“Their poor son, though. It’s going to be his first year of high school and he might be known as the kid whose dad got arrested.”

“What school’s he going to?”

“Provincetown High. Like you.”

At that point, the conversation became awkward, and they both went back to eating in silence. Arrow’s pasta was cold by now, but he didn’t particularly care. The tomato sauce was still good, after all. Once he polished off his dinner and rinsed off his dishes, he slouched off to his room. Pulling out his notebook, in which he usually vented when he had a bad day, he began to write.

The notebook was worn, the pages had tea stains, and there were ink smears coating the pages. It had character, and that was why Arrow loved it. Flipping through the torn pages, he skimmed through the words he had written so long ago. Most of the pages were from the time that his mother passed away. It was cancer. It was always that damned cancer.

Slamming the notebook shut, leaving the painful memories behind, Arrow cursed under his breath. He didn’t like thinking about his mother, but he did anyway. In the end, Arrow believed, pain was what made people human. Pain was important.

Somehow, his father went on with life without showing any sadness over his beloved wife’s death. But sometimes, Arrow felt like he couldn’t go a day without crying. He missed his mother, the sound of her voice, the smell of her blonde hair, the feel of her embrace. Without her, he felt empty.

Shaking his head, strands of his hair falling in his face, he forced the thoughts from his head. Arrow knew that it wasn’t healthy to keep his feelings bottled up, and he didn’t want to. But he wanted the approval of his father, the only family he had left.


	2. Chapter 1

Ellian didn’t want to go to school. He didn’t want to, not since his dad was taken. All he wanted was to sit home and mope. The only good thing that would come out of going to school was the fact that he would actually have a halfway decent lunch. Because his dad was the moneymaker of the family, he hadn’t eaten anything other than junk food for the past week.

His mother just made things worse. She had always had drinking problems, but now she was drinking bottles upon bottles of alcohol. Ellian’s mother would try to take out her anger on Jake — not by beating but by yelling, thankfully — but as much as Jake annoyed the heck out of him, Ellian would try to defend his little brother. And when she wasn’t drinking, she was either sleeping or shopping. And then she’d just go back to drinking. The neighbors, thank the heavens, tried to give them leftovers. But even then, it was nowhere near enough to satiate their ever-growing hunger.

As Ellian walked to school, his stomach grumbled. He could hear the echo of his mom's voice yelling about how the police officers didn’t have a warrant to search the house when they most certainly did.

“Ellian, do we _have_ to go to school?” Jake complained. “I don’t wanna see other people.”

“I don’t blame you,” Ellian said honestly. “But at least we get food, right?”

“I hate life,” Jake grumbled. “First Kira goes missing, Dad gets arrested, and now when we go to school, everyone will stare and laugh.” For a seven-year-old, he had become quite mature in the past week. Then again, trauma does that to a person.

As soon as they arrived at Jake’s school, Ellian could feel Jake’s small, frail arms wrap around his waist.

“Jake, you gotta let go,” Ellian said, trying to pry Jake off of him.

“I don’t want you to go away forever,” Jake whispered, letting go of Ellian. “Bye, then.”

With a small wave, Ellian walked away, shoving his hands into his pockets. People who passed by him stared — by now, his family was famous for being the “drugs bust family.” Yet at the same time, he was prepared to put his dark home life behind.

The school came into his line of sight, it’s old brick buildings looking bright and cheerful — the complete opposite of what was bound to be in the interior. How could school be anything but a building filled with drug addicts, bullies, and all-around annoying people? As he kept his head down, not really looking where he was going, he bumped shoulders with another student.

“Sorry!” he said instantly. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“You—” the other boy started. However, as soon as he saw Ellian’s face, his face melted from one of happiness to one of pure, unfiltered anger. “Watch it.” And with that, the other boy stormed off to his first class.

Ellian stood there, staring at the yellow-sweatered boy, dumbstruck. Nobody had acted like that with him, never, even after his dad was arrested.

“Ignore him,” a female voice said from behind Ellian, startling the boy. “He’s not gonna be nice to you any time soon.”

“Why not?” he asked, turning around to face the girl.

“He’s not one to let go of grudges,” the girl answered, her shoulder-length brown locks falling into her face. “Trust me.”

“What’s your first class?” Ellian questioned, already liking this younger girl. “Mine’s Physics with Mr. Smith.”

“Same,” she replied. “I’ve heard that he doesn’t stop talking about himself.” She laughed, the sound like bells on a clear day.

As they walked towards the science and maths building, Ellian started to take in his surroundings. He saw people walking down the old cobblestone pathways, dressed in colorful t-shirts. He saw people chatting with their friends and thought how he could never be like that. Who, he thought, would want to be friends with the son of a drug dealer?

Walking into the bright white physics classroom, he immediately took note of where the girl he spoke to outside sat. Not to be creepy and stalkerish, but just so that he knew where he might have a possible friend. When the teacher started roll call, Ellian was hardly paying attention, only waiting for his name to be called.

“Ellian Bennett.”

“Here,” Ellian replied dully.

Less than a minute later, Ellian found out the name of the girl. “Aubrey Fitzgerald,” Mr. Smith called.

“Hi,” the girl responded, stiffly, but calmly.

“Arrow Raddix.”

“Here,” came a voice from the back of the room. The voice belonged to him, the boy with the yellow sweater. The very same boy who had treated him like dirt just minutes beforehand.

☀♡☽

Arrow was mad. Actually, he was furious. He didn’t want that _idiot_ son of a drug dealer in his physics class. He loved physics, and now that moron had to ruin it for him. Normally Arrow was calm, but seeing that kid in real life set him off. His cousin was a drug addict, and she died from overdosing. Therefore, in Arrow’s opinion, anything related to drugs was the pure personification of evil.

And then after class, he saw Fitz chatting away with Ellian, as though they had known each other for years, trying to convince the other boy to call her Fitz instead of Aubrey. Ellian felt betrayed that his lifelong friend had ditched him, just to start talking with a person he _hated._ The very thought made his blood boil beneath his skin.

“Hey Ari,” Fitz’s cheerful voice chirped from behind him. “How’s life?”

“Why are you hanging out with that moron?” Arrow asked dully.

“Well, Arrow, I’ve known you since you were little and you’re basically my best friend in the entire world and —”

“Shut up.”

“Never.”

And that was essentially their friendship: teasing each other continuously. Fitz was a naturally teasing person, and Arrow would never stop taking advantage of that. In all honesty, her personality matched her name. She was crazy, all over the place, yet collected and smart. That was probably why they became friends — their personalities were so different yet so similar.

“But in all seriousness, why were you talking to… the Bennett kid?” Arrow asked, bitterness clear in his voice as he said Ellian’s last name.

“Because he’s a good person!” Fitz defended. “And he’s not being a cranky, judgemental idiot like you are!” Arrow’s silence frustrated Fitz; he knew that his hatred for the other boy was unreasonable, but he still felt that way, regardless. “Look, just talk to him. He’s not like his dad.”

“And how would you know that?” Arrow snapped, going against his better judgment. “He could be trying to… I dunno, try to manipulate you into selling drugs for him?”

“Wow, Ari,” Fitz said, sarcasm dripping from her words. “Such a great reason. And besides, you don’t get to decide who I get to be friends with. I can do things myself.”

With those final words, Fitz stormed off to go back to talking with Ellian. Even though he had acknowledged that Fitz was right, he didn’t want to admit it. His brain wanted him to admit it, but his heart didn’t.

As he watched his friend walk away, his heart sank. _What did I do_ , he thought. But those thoughts were quickly erased from his mind by his beeping watch, signaling that he only had a minute to get to his next class, literature. He hoped Fitz would be in his class so that he could have at least _one_ friend to talk to during the most boring class in the history of the world, but fate decided to be horrible. Or Fitz was just a complete genius and taking the sophomore literature class during a different period — which Arrow knew was the right answer. Curse Fitz for being so damn smart.

When Mr. Franklin started roll call and Arrow heard Bennett’s name, his fists clenched underneath the table. He didn’t want to have his least favorite subject become even worse by having a boring teacher and an annoying classmate. Even worse, he was sitting right next to Bennett. Right. Next. To. Him.

“Hey, look, I know we got off on the wrong start but —” Bennett started, but was cut off by Arrow.

“Don’t even say it. Just keep to yourself and your messed up family,” Arrow snapped, seeing red. Bennett’s voice was giving him a headache.

“Jeez, I’m sorry,” Bennett mumbled. Good. At least he wouldn’t speak directly _to_ him.

As the teacher started to ask icebreaker questions, Arrow’s head shot up from his slouched position. Icebreakers had always fascinated him, as dull and ridiculous as they could be. It showed a lot about a person’s personality.

“What do you think is the most important part of a story?” Mr. Franklin started. “And not all of these will apply to any story, but pick out of these options. Okay?” The class nodded. “Alright, here are the options: the protagonists, the antagonists, the setting, the romance, the action, or something else.”

One boy in the front of the classroom, who definitely sounded like he was drunk, slurred, “The romance. Whooo hoooo.” He was drunk and it was only 9:00 AM.

Arrow started to laugh, but then saw that Bennett, too, was laughing. He didn’t want to find the same things funny as Bennett did. But Arrow couldn’t resist the laughter that was bubbling in his throat.

“Thanks, Lane,” Mr. Franklin deadpanned.

“The setting,” said the girl sitting next to Bennet, almost dreamily. “It can be either beautiful or terrible. It can even be symbolic.”

“Nice. Arrow? What’s your answer?”

“The antagonist. There’s no story without an antagonist, honestly,” Arrow replied. He probably would have gone with the action, but when Fitz explained how there’s no action without an antagonist, Arrow immediately changed his mind.

“Interesting. Ellian?”

“I agree with Arrow,” Bennett answered. “The antagonist is usually the most interesting character. They usually have a backstory, or if they’re a serial killer, ‘daddy issues.’”

A few seconds after Bennett finished his sentence, a ball of paper hit him on the back of the head. When Bennett unraveled it, Arrow read the chicken scratch over Bennett’s shoulder. _nice to admit that your going to be a cereal killer a**hole._

Bennett’s only response was to crinkle it up and shove it in his bag. If Arrow didn’t believe that Bennett deserved it, he would have felt bad for him. Maybe in another world, they could have been friends. But then Arrow remembered who Bennett was and decided on his final opinion.

Despite what Fitz said, in all of her crazy, crack-headed intelligence, Arrow had come up with his own opinion. Bennett could never be his friend. He would be the thorn in Arrow’s side which would stick with him until the end of the school year.

It was decided: Ellian Bennett was Arrow Raddix’s enemy.


End file.
